LA Galaxy Weekly Update: June 21

CARSON, Calif. (Tuesday, June 21, 2011) – The LA Galaxy will look to extend their unbeaten streak to 10 games on Saturday afternoon when they travel north to take on the San Jose Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium. LA won their first game of June last Saturday, defeating Colorado 3-1. With that win, the Galaxy are now 5-0-4 during their current unbeaten streak, which dates back to a 2-1 loss at FC Dallas on May 1.

Saturday’s game against the Earthquakes will be the first meeting of the season between the two longtime California rivals. The Galaxy lost 1-0 in their first-ever visit to Buck Shaw Stadium last season but will be looking for their first win in the Bay Area since June 2008. Since the Earthquakes returned to MLS in 2008, the Galaxy have a 3-3-2 record against them in all competitions, including a 1-3-1 mark on the road.

FOX Soccer will broadcast Saturday’s game live starting with their pregame show at 3 p.m. The game will also be carried live locally on the radio, in English on KTLK 1150 AM and in Spanish on KWKW 1330 AM ESPN Deportes Radio. Fans can also listen online and participate in a gameday webchat at lagalaxy.com/gamedaylive.

ONE FROM TEN: With the 3-1 win at Colorado on Saturday, the Galaxy extended their unbeaten streak to nine games, tying the mark for the longest unbeaten streak in MLS this season. The Rapids entered Saturday’s game with the longest unbeaten streak in the league at nine games, but that streak ended with the loss to the Galaxy.

With a win or a draw against San Jose this weekend, the Galaxy, who are 5-0-4 during their current streak, can extend their unbeaten streak to 10 games, becoming the first team to tally a double digit unbeaten streak. This would be the sixth unbeaten streak of 10 games or more in club history. No other MLS team has more than four unbeaten streaks of 10 games or more since the start of MLS in 1996. The Galaxy last had an unbeaten streak of 10 games or more last season when they tied a club record by going 15 straight games without a loss a streak that began in October 2009 before finally being snapped with a loss at Real Salt Lake in June 2010.

JUNINHO UP FOR GOAL OF THE WEEK: Galaxy midfielder Juninho has seen his game-winning goal against Colorado on Saturday nominated for the AT&T MLS Goal of the Week award. The goal, which gave the Galaxy a 2-0 lead in the 42nd minute, was Juninho’s third of the season, setting a new MLS career-high for the 22-year-old native of Brazil. (WATCH) He scored twice in his first season with the Galaxy in 2010, tallying in home wins over Seattle and FC Dallas.

All three of Juninho’s goals this season have come from outside the box with the Galaxy scoring a total of five such goals this season. This is the second time this season that he has been nominated for the Goal of the Week award after scoring against Seattle and New England in the first week of the season. Fans can click here to view Juninho’s goal and to vote for the Goal of the Week. Juninho won the Goal of the Week award for his goal at home against Seattle on July 4 last season, a goal that was later voted the runner-up for the MLS Goal of the Year award.

NEW CAPTAIN: The Galaxy used their fourth different captain of the season in Saturday’s win over the Rapids, with Todd Dunivant taking the captain’s armband. This was the first time in his Galaxy career that Dunivant had worn the captain’s armband for a regular season game. Dunivant joins David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Donovan Ricketts as the four Galaxy captains this season and is the 19th different player to wear the armband in club history.

Dunivant, who has played the full 90 minutes in every Galaxy game this season, did so again against the Rapids, starting at left back and assisting on Chad Barrett’s goal in the 80th minute. That was Dunivant’s third assist of the season, placing him in a tie with Chad Barrett and Miguel Lopez for second on the team behind David Beckham, and was just the second time in his nine-year MLS career that he recorded assists in consecutive games. Dunivant last tallied assists in back-to-back games as a rookie in 2003 when he had a career-high six assists.

RICKETTS TO RETURN: The Galaxy will welcome goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts back to training this week following Jamaica’s 2-0 loss to the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Ricketts has missed each of the Galaxy’s last three games while on international duty, with Josh Saunders getting the start in each. In those three games, the Galaxy went 1-0-2 and allowed three goals while keeping one clean sheet.

Ricketts played in three of Jamaica’s four games at the Gold Cup, allowing just two goals while shutting out Grenada and Guatemala, helping his country earn a first place finish in Group B.

In his 11 games with the Galaxy this season, Ricketts has a 6-1-4 record with six clean sheets and an MLS-best 0.55 goals against average, having allowed just six goals. In the seven games that Ricketts has missed because of injury or international duty, the Galaxy are 3-1-3 with two shutouts and are allowing 1.29 goals per game.

BREAKING OUT ON THE ROAD: The Galaxy had their best offensive output in a road game in more than a year on Saturday, beating Colorado 3-1 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. After losing their first three games at the Commerce City, Colo. stadium, the Galaxy are unbeaten in their last three, drawing 1-1 in 2009 before winning 1-0 there last season and then again on Saturday. The three goals scored by the Galaxy equaled their second best offensive showing of the year, beaten only by the 4-1 home win over Sporting Kansas City on May 14.

Since the start of the 2004 season, the Galaxy have scored at least three goals in a road games at least once a year, but this was the first time that they had done so in Colorado since 2002. Last year the Galaxy recorded their biggest win of the season, defeating Seattle 4-0 at Qwest Field. In 2009, they had their best road result of the season, beating New York 3-1 in their final visit to Giants Stadium. The previous year, the Galaxy recorded a 5-1 win at FC Dallas and won 3-0 over San Jose in Oakland. In 2007, the Galaxy scored four times at Giants Stadium, only to lose 5-4 to the Red Bulls.

From 2004-06, the Galaxy scored three or more goals on the road five times, doing so three times against D.C. United and once against both Dallas and Real Salt Lake.

Gregg Berhalter gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead, finishing a Paolo Cardozo cross with a close range volley in the 27th minute. Cardozo, who had hit the crossbar with a freekick minutes earlier, collected a short pass from Ryan Thomas and sent a cross to the back post for Berhalter, who stayed onside and beat goalkeeper Bryan Sylvestre inside his left post.

Cardozo helped set up the second goal for the Galaxy as well, taking the ball off the feet of Pete Vagenas before passing to Adam Cristman who beat Sylvestre from 20 yards out, making the score 2-0.

Omar Salgado pulled a goal back for the Whitecaps in the 77th minute, but it was not enough as the Galaxy held on for the victory.

The Galaxy will be back in Reserve League action at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 5 when they host Seattle Sounders FC in a game on University Field #1 at The Home Depot Center. That game kicks off at 11 a.m. and admission is free.

The Fourth of July Weekend Kick Off Party will give everyone in attendance the first opportunity to view and purchase the jersey from the Team LA store while mixing and mingling with Galaxy players. The party will feature music by 102.7 KIIS FM, hors d'oeuvres by Wolfgang Puck Catering and a complimentary vodka bar. The Team LA store will be donating $5 from every third jersey sold at the party and during the month of July to the Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation.

The Weekend Kick Off Party is open to fans ages 21 and up, and there are a limited number of tickets on sale now for purchase through this link. Tickets are available for $125 as part of the Party Pack, which consists of one ticket to the Weekend Kick Off Party on July 1 and one ticket to the Galaxy’s game against Seattle Sounders FC on July 4 that includes the opportunity to watch the postgame fireworks show from the field. Fans already attending the game may buy a Weekend Kick Off Party ticket for $75. By purchasing a ticket, attendees will be automatically entered into a random drawing to participate in the jersey unveiling. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation.